E458 


.3 



.068 


1 



i pi i iiiiii 




000Qbl401t»b 









5, o i 



*b V*' 



«*°<* 




















<<* 




.<C* 'O *• • » 



♦^ 










^ 






/% 




■&**« 




r oK 



V. l 











# 



■=.^. 



.♦ v ^ 



.v 



<> '• . » • ,V 



' * J> 



A 



YOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 



SECESSIONISTS : 



THEIR PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES; THE CONDITION 
INTO WHICH THEY HAVE BROUGHT THE COUN- 
TRY ; THE REMEDY, ETC. 



Reprinted from the Raleigh (N. C.) Standard, op Jcxy 31, 



NEW-YORK : 

JLN SO IS - T>. F. Tl A ND O lulPTH, 

683 BROADWAY. 

1863. 







.3 

.-at* 



The following remarkable article, which appeared in the 
Raleigh (N. C.) Standard, on July thirty-first, is reported 
to have been written by Son. R. S. Donnell, Speaker of 
the House of Commons of North- Carolina, aided by F. B. 
Satterthwaite, President of the Governor's Council, and to 
have been published ivith the approval of Gov. Vance. We 
publish the article, and italicize, etc., as it was printed in 
the Standard. 



THE SECESSIONISTS 



tion into which they have brought the 
country; the remedy, etc. 



No War Analogous to this. 

Mr. Editor : There is, so far as I remember, no war 
to be met with in history entirely analogous to the 
one now raging between the North and the South. 
That produced by an attempt on the part of three of 
the Swiss Cantons to separate themselves from the 
Confederation, a few years since, in some respects, re- 
sembles it most nearly. That attempt, it will be re- 
membered, was arrested, and the rebellious Cantons 
speedily reduced to submission by the arms of the 
Confederacy. It is frequently compared to our old 
Eevolutionary struggle with the mother country, but 
there is scarcely an analogy between the two cases. 
The thirteen Colonies were not like the Southern 



4 A VOICE FKOM NORTH-CAROLINA. 

States, equal in political rights with the other States 
of the British Empire. They possessed no sovereign 
power whatever. They were not, as we were, entitled 
to representation in the common Parliament of the 
British Union, but were mere colonies — mere de- 
pendencies upon the mother country. In an evil 
hour the administration of George Grenville, and 
afterwards that of Lord North, attempted to impose 
a tax upon the Colonies. This oppression was resist- 
ed, and the resistance was made the pretext for other 
oppressions more unjust still. The Colonies continued 
their resistance in a constitutional way for nearly ten 
years, by representations, remonstrances, and petitions 
for the redress of grievances ; but all in vain. At 
length they took up arms, with the avowed object of 
enforcing such redress. 

The Colonies did not seek Separation. 
They solemnly disclaimed all intention of separation 
from the parent State, for they were as loyal in their 
feelings of attachment to the British Constitution as 
were the inhabitants of Surrey or Cornwall. This 
resolute step they confidently expected would procure 
the desired redress ; but the advice of all the ablest 
statesmen of that age — of Chatham, of Camden, of 
Burke, of Fox, of Bockingham, and others, were 
thrown away upon the narrow-minded monarch and 
the bigoted ministry which then swayed the destinies 
of the British Empire. Still in hope, they continued 
the struggle for one whole year. At length the Brit- 
ish Parliament declared the Colonies out of the protec- 
tion of the parent State. And then at last, no other 



A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 5 

course was left them but to proclaim their independ- 
ence, and defend it, if need be, with their life's blood. 
The battle of Lexington was fought on the nineteenth 
of April, 1775, and on the twelfth of April, 1776, the 
Provincial Congress of North- Carolina "empowered 
their delegates in Congress to concur with the dele- 
gates of the other Colonies in declaring independence 
and forming foreign alliances," and on the fifteenth of 
the following month, Virginia, through her Conven- 
tion, instructed her delegates in the Continental Con- 
gress " to propose to that body to declare the United 
Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all 
allegiance to, or dependence on, the Crown or Parlia- 
ment of Great Britain," and on the Fourth of July 
following the ever memorable Declaration was made. 

The Course of the Secessionists. 

But how different has been the course of the Seces- 
sionists ! They seem to have resolved years ago that 
the Union should be destroyed, and then to have set 
themselves to work to forge such grievances as would 
seem to give them a decent pretext for the accomplish- 
ment of their premeditated schemes. The first effort 
was made in the days of nullification by the Secession- 
ists of South-Carolina. The grievance then complained 
of was the tariff, although the State of South-Carolina, 
herself, had been, from the foundation of the Govern- 
ment nearly up to that period, as strong an advocate 
of a high tariff as any State in New-England. That 
question was compromised — South-Carolina obtained 
all that she ostensibly demanded. A revenue tariff, 
with incidental protection, became the settled policy 



6 A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAKOLINA. 

of the Government, and, except for a short period 
under the tariff of 1842, was never departed from. 
But still they were not satisfied. 

The Slave Question. 

Immediately after the passage of Mr. Clay's Com- 
promise bill, the newspaper organ of the Secessionists 
at Washington declared : " That the South could never 
be united on the tariff question, and that the slave question 
was the only one that could unite them." And Mr. 
Calhoun, if I mistake not, said the same thing in a 
speech at Abbeville, in South-Carolina, about the 
same time ; and of course was followed by all the 
lesser lights among his adherents. Then commenced 
that violent agitation of the Slavery question which 
had nearly culminated upon the admission of Califor- 
nia, in 1850. Again, by the efforts of those immortal 
statesmen of the last age, Messrs. Webster, Clay, and 
others, was the matter compromised. The whole 
country at first appeared to be satisfied with the set- 
tlement, but it soon appeared that there were a number 
of restless spirits among the extremists of the Soutb, 
that would be satisfied with nothing short of a dissolu- 
tion of the Union. 

Yancey's Ultimatum. 

Of this class of politicians, W. L. Yancey may be 
fitly selected as representative man. He immediately 
began to agitate the question again. He went to the 
Democratic National Convention at Baltimore, in 1S52, 
as a delegate from the State of Alabama, and there 
proposed as the ultimatum on which he could continue 
to act with the Democratic party, and upon which, in 



A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 7 

his opinion, the Slave States could consent to remain 
in the Union, that the doctrine of non-intervention by 
Congress in regard to Slavery in the Territories should 
be incorporated in the Democratic platform. In this 
he failed, and therefore did not support the nominee 
of the Convention, Mr. Pierce. He could not, how- 
ever, at that time, succeed in creating a great schism 
in the Democratic party, so great had been the calm 
which the compromise measures of 1850 had produced. 
In 1856 he again went as a delegate from the State of 
Alabama to the Cincinnati Convention, with his old 
ultimatum in his pocket. Contrary to his wishes and 
expectations it was incorporated into the Cincinnati 
platform, and being thus leffwithout an excuse, he 
supported Mr. Buchanan for the Presidency in the 
fall of that year. 

Eepeal of the Missouri Compromise. 

In the mean time, however, that fatal measure, the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, had been consum- 
mated. It was brought about by the extremists of 
the South, aided by a few partisan Democrats at the 
North. The avowed object of its author was to open 
to Slavery the territories north of the Missouri Com- 
promise line, notwithstanding the agreement of 1820, 
that said line should forever divide the territories 
between the Slave and Free States. It is said, how- 
ever, that the compromise of 1820 was unconstitu- 
tional ; but what is that to the purpose ? It was a 
most solemn compact between the two sections of the 
country, made for the settlement of a most perplexing 
question, and, without any reference to its constitu- 



8 A YOICE FKOM NORTH-CAROLINA. 

tionality, should have been regarded as an organic 
law, and observed as sacredly as the Constitutioi 
itself. 

The Effect of this Measure. 

The effect of this measure was great and rapid, anc 
there can be but little doubt that it was such as a ma 
jority of its authors contemplated. The result was 
the formation of a great party at the North opposec 
to the further extension of Slavery, and which partj 
very nearly succeeded in electing their candidate foj 
the Presidency, Mr. Fremont, in 1856. After th< 
election, this party seemed to be on the wane, una 
the Anti-Slavery spirit of the whole North was arous 
ed to madness, by an attempt on the part of Mr. Bu 
chanan's Administration to force the Lecompton Con 
stitution with Slavery upon the people of Kansas, ir 
opposition to the known and expressed wish of three 
fourths of them. But for this most unjustifiable mea 
sure, the Republican party would undoubtedly havt 
dwindled down to moderate proportions ; and ever 
after this, it is doubtful if they could have succeedec 
in the Presidential election of 1860, if the Secession 
ists, with Yancey at their head, had not determined 
that they should succeed. After Mr. Yancey and his 
party had, against their wishes, succeeded in getting 
their ultimatum of non-intervention incorporated intc 
the Cincinnati platform, they went to work to conjure 
up another to present to the Charleston Convention. 

Protection for Slavery demanded. 

Abandoning their doctrine of non-intervention, thej 

went to the opposite extreme and demanded that th( 



A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAEOLIXA. 9 

itervention of Congress for the protection of Slavery 
i the territories should constitute a part of the Charles- 
:>n platform. ■ This demand they well knew would not 
e complied with, nor did they desire that it should be. 
'heir object was to procure the secession of the dele- 
ates of the Cotton States from the Convention, and 
ms by defeating the nomination of Mr. Douglas, and 
ending asunder the Democratic party, to insure the elec- 
on of Mr. Lincoln, and thereby forge for themselves 
grievance which would seem to justify them in the 
tecution of the long-meditated designs of destroying 
ie Union. All of this they .accomplished, and the 
ection of Mr. Lincoln was perhaps hailed with greater 
_>y at Charleston than at New-York. I will do them 
e justice to state that they also claimed to have some 
her grievances ; among them, that some of the North- 
n States by their statutes obstructed the execution 
' the Fugitive Slave law, but the only States that 
mid complain much on that score were willing to re- 
am in the Union, while South-Carolina, the State 
hich set the ball in motion, perhaps never lost a slave, 
at it must be borne in mind that no act of the Na- 
>nal Government constituted any part of their griev- 
ices. They did not pretend that any act of Congress 
fringed their rights, and the decisions of the Supreme 
)urt were mainly such as they would themselves 
tve made. Nay, even at the very time of Mr. Lin- 
ln's inauguration, if the Cotton States had allowed 
eir Senators and Eepresentatives to remain, they 
3uld have had a decided majority in both Houses of 
mgress in favor of the extension of Slavery, and in 
(position to the policy of the party which elected 
m. 



10 A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 

The Great Cause of Complaint. 
The great cause of complaint was, that a man op- 
posed to the extension of Slavery in the Territories 
had been elected President of the United States, ac- 
cording to the forms of the Constitution, which he was 
sworn to defend and protect, and who disclaimed any 
other than constitutional means in the accomplishment 
of his objects. Under such circumstances it seems 
that if they had labored under any real grievance, 
their course was plain. They should have taken the 
course of our revolutionary fathers. When the States 
assembled in Convention, instead of proceeding at once 
to declare their independence — for the idea of seces- 
sion, peaceable of right, seems, as Publius says, to have 
exploded and given up the ghost — they should clearly 
and concisely have stated what their grievances were, 
and demanded redress in respectful yet firm and decid- 
ed terms. They should have exhausted every constitu- 
tional means of obtaining guarantees — if any were 
needed — by representation, by remonstrance, by peti- 
tion; and failing in all these, they should have done 
as our revolutionary sires did, that is, fight in the Union 
for their rights until they were driven out of it. Sucli 
a course would have procured for us, as it did for our 
fathers, the respect, the sympathy, and the assistance 
of other nations. Instead of that, we have not a 
friend in Europe. But such was not the course which 
these — in their own estimation — wise statesmen chose 
to pursue. When such a course was suggested or re- 
commended to them, they evaded it by a long list of 
magnificent promises, which looked so splendid as al- 
most to dazzle the mind with their brilliancy. 



A VOICE FROM NOETH-CAROLINA. 11 

Promises of the Secessionists. 

First and foremost, they promised that secession 
should be peaceable. 

Secondly. They promised that if perchance war 
should ensue, it would be a very short war; that it 
would not last six months ; that the Yankees would 
not fight ; that one Southerner could whip from ten to 
one hundred of them ; that England and France would 
speedily recognize us, and render us every assistance 
we might desire; that whatever might be their ab- 
stract opinions of the subject of Slavery, their interests 
would impel them to promote its perpetuity in the 
Southern States ; that if, after all, they should not be 
disposed to assist us, Cotton ivas King, and would soon 
bring all the crowned heads of Europe on their knees 
in supplication to us ; would compel them to raise the 
blockade — should one be established — in thirty days, 
in sixty days, in ninety days, in one hundred and 
twenty days, in six months, in nine months, in one year 
at furthest. 

Thirdly. They promised us that all the Slave States 
except Delaware would join the Southern Confederacy; 
that Slavery should not only be perpetuated in the 
States, but that it should be extended into all the 
Territories in which the negro could live ; that all the 
grievances occasioned by the non- execution of the 
Fugitive Slave Law should be speedily redressed ; that 
slave property should be established upon a basis as 
safe as that of landed property. 

Fourthly. They promised us that the new govern- 
ment should be a mere Confederacy of States, of ab- 
solute sovereignty and equal rights; that the States 



12 A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 

should be tyrannized over by no such " central despot- 
ism " as the old Government at Washington ; that the 
glorious doctrine of State rights and nullification, as 
taught by Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Calhoun, should pre- 
vail in the new Confederacy ; that the sovereignty of 
the States and their judicial decisions should be sacred- 
ly respected. 

Fifthly. They promised us the early and permanent 
establishment of the wealthiest and best government 
on the earth, whose credit should be better than that 
of any other nation ; whose prosperity and happiness 
should be the envy of the civilized world. 

And lastly, they promised us that if war should en- 
sue, they would go to the battle-field, and spill, if neces- 
sary, the last drop of their blood in the cause of their 
beloved South. 

Performances of the Secessionists. 

While such have been their promises, what have 
been their performances ? Instead of secession being 
peaceable, as they promised that it would, it has given 
rise to such a war as has never before desolated any 
country, since the barbarians of the North overran the 
Eoman Empire. 

So far from the war's ending in six months, as they 
said it would, should it ensue, it has already lasted 
more than two years; and if their policy is to be pur- 
sued, it will last more than two years longer; and, 
notwithstanding their predictions, the Yankees have 
fought on many occasions with a spirit and determina- 
tion worthy of their ancestors of the Revolution — 
worthy of the descendants of those austere old Puri- 



A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 13 

tans whose heroic spirit and religious zeal made Oliver 
Cromwell's army the terror of the civilized world — 
or of those French Huguenots, " who, thrice in the 
sixteenth century, contended with heroic spirit and 
various fortunes against all the genius of the house of 
Lorraine, and all the power of the house of Valois." 
England and France have not recognized us ■ — have 
not raised the blockade — have not shown us any sym- 
pathy, nor is there any probability that they ever will ; 
and that Cotton is not King, is now universally ac- 
knowledged. And Maryland has not joined the Con- 
federacy, nor has Kentucky nor Missouri ever really 
been with us. Slavery has not only not been perpetu- 
ated in the States, nor extended into the Territories, 
but Missouri has passed an act of emancipation, and 
Maryland is ready to do so rather than give up her 
place in the Union, and the last hope of obtaining one 
foot of the Territories for the purpose of extending 
Slavery has departed from the Confederacy forever. 
The grievances caused by the failure of some of the 
Northern States to execute the Fugitive Slave Law, 
have not only not been remedied, but more slaves 
have been lost to the South forever since secession was 
inaugurated, than would have escaped from their mas- 
ters in the Union in five centuries. And how have 
they kept their promise that they would respect the 
sovereignty and rights of the States ? Whatever the 
Government may be in theory, in fact we have a grand 
military consolidation, which almost entirely ignores 
the existence of the States, and disregards the decisions 
of their highest judicial tribunals. The great central 
despotism at Washington, as they were pleased to call 



14 A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 

it, was at any time previous to the commencement of 
the secession movement, and even for some time after 
it had commenced, a most mild and beneficent Govern- 
ment compared with the central despotism at Eichmond, 
under which we are now living. 

What have we got? 
Instead of an early and permanent establishment of 
the "wealthiest and best government in the world, 
with unbounded credit," what have we got ? In spite 
of all the victories which they profess to have obtain- 
ed over the Yankees, they have lost the States of 
Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mis- 
sissippi, and Tennessee, and in my humble opinion 
have lost them forever; and, in all probability, Ala- 
bama will soon be added to the number. This will 
leave to the Confederacy but five States out of the 
original thirteen, and of these five the Yankees have 
possession of many of the most important points, and 
one third of their territory. So far, the Yankees have 
never failed to hold every place of importance which 
they have taken, and present indications are, that 
Charleston will soon be added to the number. The 
campaign of General Lee into Pennsylvania has un- 
doubtedly proved a failure, and with it the last hope 
of conquering a peace by a successful invasion of the 
enemy's country. Our army has certainly been very 
much weakened and dispirited by this failure and 
the fall of Yicksburgh, and how long even Eichmond 
will be safe no one can tell. As the Eichmond En- 
quirer said some time ago, " They are slowly but 
surely gaining upon us acre by acre, mile by mile," 



A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 15 

and, unless Providence interposes in our behalf — of 
which I see no indications — we will, at no great dis- 
tance of time, be a subjugated people. 

As to our unbounded credit based upon the security 
of King Cotton, it is unnecessary to speak. When we 
see one of the most influential States in the Confeder- 
acy discrediting a very large part of the confederato 
currency, and the confederate government itself re- 
pudiating, to some extent, its most solemn obligations, 
we can not but suppose that the confidence of other 
nations in the good faith and credit of this govern- 
ment is small indeed. As regards their promise " to 
go to the war and spill the last drop of their blood in 
the cause of their beloved South," I will say nothing. 
Every body knows how the Secessionists of North- 
Carolina have kept that promise. Every body knows 
that the leaders, with a few honorable exceptions, will 
neither fight nor negotiate. 

No Guarantees demanded by the South. 

What a deplorable spectacle does the foregoing his- 
tory present to our view ! To what a desperate pass 
have they brought us, and for what? They say that 
they did it because the North would give us no guar- 
antee in the Slavery question. I have before stated 
that not one of the Conventions of the seven Cotton 
States ever demanded any guarantee whatever. Nay, 
they even refused to accept of any if their friends of 
the Border States would procure it for them. 

The Legislature of North-Carolina, at its regular 
session in January, 1861, adopted resolutions appoint- 
ing Commissioners to the Peace Congress at Washing- 



16 A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 

ton City, and also to the Convention which assembled 
at Montgomery, Alabama, in February, 1861, for the 
purpose of adopting a Constitution, and establishing a 
provisional government for the confederate States of 
America. On the motion of the writer of this, the re- 
solution appointing Commissioners to Montgomery 
was amended so as to instruct them " to act only as 
mediators, and use every effort possible to restore the 
Union upon the basis of the Crittenden propositions as 
modified by the Legislature of Virginia." The Commis- 
sioners under these instructions were the Hon. D. L. 
Swan, General M. W. Eansom, and John L. Bridgers, 
Esq., who, upon their return, submitted a report to his 
Excellency, Gov. Ellis, which was by him laid before 
the Legislature, and was printed among the legislative 
documents of that year, where it may be consulted. 
In this report they say that they had the most ample 
opportunities of ascertaining public opinion in the 
Cotton States, and then add : " We regret to be con- 
strained to state, as the result of our inquiries, made 
under such circumstances, that only a very decided 
minority of the community in these States are disposed 
at present, to entertain favorably, any proposition of 
adjustment which looks toward a reconstruction of our 
National Union. In this state of things we have not 
deemed it our duty to attend any of the secret sessions 
of the Congress. The resolutions of the General As- 
sembly are upon the table of the Congress, and having 
submitted them as a peace-offering, we would poorly 
perform the duties assigned to us by entering into dis- 
cussions which would serve only to enkindle strife." 
But it will be said that these guarantees could not 



A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 17 

have been obtained from the North. This I admit to 
be true, and only produce this piece of history to 
prove that whatever might have been obtained, noth- 
ing would have been accepted. But the Congress of 
the United States did pass, by the constitutional ma- 
jority of two thirds, the proposition reported by Mr. 
Corwin, from the Committee of twenty six, to so amend 
the Constitution as to perpetuate slavery in the States. 
What stronger guarantees could be given so far as the 
States were concerned it would be difficult to conceive. 
What then would have been left to quarrel about ? 
The Territories. During the session of Congress which 
closed on the fourth of March, 1861, acts were passed 
to provide temporary governments for the three re- 
maining new Territories, to wit, Colorado, Nevada, 
and Dacotah. These acts contain no trace or indica- 
tion of the Wilmot Proviso, nor any* other prohibition 
against the introduction of Slavery, but on the other 
hand, expressly declare among other things, that " no 
law shall be passed impairing the rights of private pro- 
perty : nor shall any discrimination be made in taxing 
different kinds of property, but all property subject to 
taxation shall be in proportion to the value of the pro- 
perty taxed." 

Nothing to Quarrel About. 

Now, when it is considered that all three of these 
Territories are north of 36° 30', and that in the new 
Territory now owned by the United States south of that 
line Slavery actually exists and is recognized by the ter- 
ritorial law, the question may well be asked : " What 
was there worth quarrelling, much less fighting about?" 
Here was a settlement of the question in the Territo- 



18 A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 

ries made by a ^Republican Congress, which gave the 
South all that up to the time of the Charleston Con- 
vention she had ever asked, and far more than she 
could hope to gain, in any event, by secession — in- 
deed, I think it must now be apparent that secession, 
even if it could have been effected peaceably, would 
have been no remedy for the grievances of which they 
complained. Kay, so far as any grievances arising 
from a failure to obtain a return of our fugitive slaves 
was concerned, I think it must now be apparent that 
it would have been an aggravation instead of a remedy 
for the evil. I think all calm and dispassionate men 
everywhere are now ready to admit that it would 
have been far better for us to have accepted the terms 
offered to us and preserved peace and the Union, than 
to have plunged this once happy country into the hor- 
rors of this desolating war, which has spread a pall 
over the whole land — has brought mourning into 
every family — has rendered hundreds of thousands of 
hearth-stones desolate — has filled the land with maimed 
and disabled, with widows and orphans, and squalid 
poverty — has crowded our poorhouses and almshouses 
— has sported away many hundreds of thousands of 
lives and many hundreds of millions of treasure, only 
to find the institution for which they profess to have 
gone to war in a thousand times greater jeopardy than 
ever before. 

Is there any Eemedy? 

Such being the condition into which they have 

brought the country, the question presents itself, " Is 

there any remedy ?" A full, complete, and adequate 

remedy there is not ; for what can restore the loved 



A VOICE FKOM NOETH-CAKOLINA. 19 

ones lost — repair at once the desolation, or remove im- 
mediately the mourning from our land ? Yet there is 
a remedy, which, with the helping hand of time, will 
accomplish much, very much indeed, and which, with 
the energy that usually follows desolating wars, will, 
perhaps, remove most of its traces in a half-century. 
This remedy is peace, speedy peace ! But they say 
that we are so situated that no proposition for peace 
can be made by us ; that having proclaimed our inde- 
pendence we must fight until it is voluntarily acknow- 
ledged by the United States, or until we are completely 
subjugated. On the meeting of the British Parliament, 
which took place on the thirteenth of December, 1792, 
the King in his speech to the two Houses, intimated 
his intention of going to war with the French Repub- 
lic. On moving the address in answer to the speech, 
a memorable debate arose. On this occasion Charles 
James Fox delivered one of those powerful speeches 
which have made his name immortal — which have for- 
ever stamped him as the ablest of British debaters and 
the first of British statesmen. In the course of that 
speech he said : " But we now disdain to negotiate. 
Why ?. Because we have no Minister at Paris. Why 
have we no Minister there ? Because France is a Re- 
public ! And so we are to pay in blood and treasure 
of the people for a punctilio! . . . The road of 
common-sense is simple, plain, and direct. That of 
pride and 'punctilio is as tangled as it is serpentine." 
In the impassioned language of Mr. Fox, I would ask, 
are we to pay in blood and treasure of the people for 
a punctilio f Shall we pursue the path of pride and 
punctilio, which is as tangled as it is serpentine, or 
shall we take the simple, plain, and direct road of com- 



20 ■ A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 

mon sense, which may lead to the happiest results? 
Four fifths of the people of that portion of North -Caro- 
lina bordering for many miles on the Yadkin Kiver, 
and I believe of the whole State, are in favor of the 
latter course. * 

Demand for Peace. 

The one great demand of the people of this part of 
the State is peace ; peace upon any terms that will not 
enslave and degrade us. They may, perhaps, prefer 
that the independence of the South should be acknow- 
ledged, but this they believe can not now be obtained, 
nor in viewing the situation of affairs, do they see much 
to hope of it in the future. They naturally ask, if 
with no means of recruiting to any extent, we can not 
hold our own against the armies which the Yankees 
have now in the field, how can we meet them with 
their three hundred thousand new levies which will 
soon be in readiness, while they can keep their army 
recruited to a great extent, if not up to its maximum 
number, from adventurers which are constantly arriv- 
ing in their ports from every country in Europe ? But 
if independence can not be obtained, then they are for 
any terms that are honorable — any terms that do not 
degrade us. They would be willing to compromise 
upon the amendment proposed by Mr. Corwin from 
the Committee of Twenty-six, perpetuating Slavery in 
the States to which I have before alluded. But in 
what precise way overtures shall be made, or the move- 
ment inaugurated, I leave to wiser men and abler 
statesmen than myself to propose. I would, however, 
suggest to the people to elect members to the next 
Congress, who are in favor of an armistice of six 
months, and in the mean time, of submitting all mat- 



A VOICE FROM NORTH-CAROLINA. 21 

ters in dispute to a Convention of delegates from all 
the States North and South, the delegates to be elected by 
the people themselves, in such manner as may be agreed 
upon by the two parties. Others there are, who desire 
that the people of North-Carolina should be consulted 
in their sovereign capacity through a convention — that 
the Legislature should submit the question of " Con- 
vention or no Convention " to the people, as was done 
in February, 1861. Such a convention would un- 
doubtedly speak the sentiments of the people of the 
State, citizens as well as soldiers, as all would be con- 
sulted. But I propose nothing definite, and only make 
these suggestions to bring the matter before the public. 
I would, however, most earnestly appeal to the friends 
of humanity throughout the State to use their utmost 
efforts to procure as speedily as possible an honorable 
peace. In the name of reason, of suffering humanity, 
and of the religion which we profess would I appeal to 
the public men and statesmen of North-Carolina, and 
especially to that eminent statesman who possesses in 
a greater degree than all others the confidence of the 
people of the State, and who has recently been elevat- 
ed to a high place in the confederate government, to 
lend a helping hand and use their influence to bring 
about an honorable peace. And lastly, I would appeal 
to the ministers and professors of our holy religion to 
pray constantly — without dictation of terms — to Al- 
mighty God for an honorable peace. 

Having but recently occupied a large space in your 
columns, I feel that I am intruding, and will therefore, 
after expressing my obligations to you, close for the 
present. Davidson. 

Clemonsville, N. C, July 16, 1863. 



W6C 



"bf^ 










% 






